As the topic of "award greed" was an important one when this system was founded, we are including responses to the concern that the giving of awards will promote an unpleasant atmosphere of striding for awards at the cost of quality writing and the community experience, and that awards will be earned cheaply and lose their value.
Amora said:
"Yes, there are a lot of awards. But many of them (the bi-annual ones) can only be gained once in a single character's lifetime. Also, many characters will probably be more or less worthy for multiple awards, but only the single most deserving award will be given at any single time. It would take a lot of time, years certainly, and sustained activity, in order to get every award one could possibly want and be voted as deserving. With a max of two major awards per year that makes the major Tower-wide awards quite valuable.
There are a lot of types of awards because we can think of a lot of different people who might appreciate efforts (hosts, Ajah Heads, Admin) and a lot of different things we think are worth recognizing. That doesn't mean that all of them would ever be awarded. This is much like the analogy we made during the creation of the Ajah Benefits System "Big grocery store, small shopping cart" - or in this specific case for major awards, "three story giant grocery store, a hand basket, and $20".
Yeah, the "value" of awards would vary greatly. Participating in a major RP is easy. But it's also something we would like to encourage, rather than simply saying "yes I want to keep my character" every six months and doing nothing else, or simply participating in "talking head threads" without taking part in larger over-arching plots.
Also note, we only are suggesting Service Ribbons for Big and Major RPs that are completed. There have been countless major RPs that started up and failed in the "setting out" or midpoint phase, due to lack of participation and organization - those are not recognized at all. By giving service ribbons it means that the players in a major or big RP would have some small additional incentive to see the plot to its logical conclusion - rather than losing interest and fading away - leaving the story and a part of several characters' histories incomplete.
Some awards would be worth significantly, if not extraordinarily more, than others. Some are general and some are specific. But at a glance one could tell that Player A likes to get involved in major RPs, Player B likes to write a lot of excellent fanfics, Player C has a lot of technical accuracy in the way she plays a Yellow. Each can be recognized and distinguished in different ways. The biography can be more than simply explaining what brought the character to the Tower, even what skills/Talents/etc. one has gained, but trace his or her history and present a more well-rounded profile.
The point is also encourage current members, who are curious about other characters, to go back and read into the Tower history -fanfics, major RPs, and big RPs to see what shaped the Tower and characters within. In some cases, that can only be done by going back into RP transcripts, and fanfics, and noting the participants who took part in seeing a complete story to its conclusion."
"Also, I think one should only get one item per contribution, so if one gets an Ajah ribbon, one can't get a medal for the same RP unless it's one of the extremely broad, and rare, Tower awards like the Gold Flame and Fang. So for example, one could get a Green Ajah ribbon, but that means not getting the purple heart for the same major RP, or vice versa."
Lembirt said:
"First - I don't think that writing will suffer as a result of the awards, since good writing is sort of implied in even getting one. I think that the awards that cover more objective things - such as contributing to an MRP - still have "and wrote well" built into them."
"We have always had a large number of characters at the tower who join, work on their raising requirements, and write a series of, as Mother calls them, "Talking Head" threads. In fact, I've been there myself, believe it or not, with previous characters. It isn't really a fun place to be in, because often no matter how much one want to be a part of overarching plot arcs, it just seems like there is no oppertunity to get into them. Or, no matter how much one would like to join a Major RP, there are no active ones to take part in.
We also tend to have a lot of characters - and I point no fingers here - often played by inexperienced writers, who could fit into the "Mary Sue" category. The truth is, that it isn't really all that much fun to play a Mary Sue either - no-one wants to play with one, and ones plots tend to be get terribly stale after a time.
I think that both of these are major reasons that many newbies leave the Tower - and this problem aflicts all RP sites, not just ours. I also think that the awards system could stand to help remedy both of these problems. How?
Well, look at the idea of the purple heart, or the proposed "plague" ribbon. There's a fair chance that some characters would decide to have their character seriously wounded in battle just to get the ribbon - and perhaps that isn't the best reason to do something in the world of creative writing. However, whatever the reason that a writer decides to write an injury for his or her character, this does not change the skill that one gains by writing one, or the satisfaction that comes from the inevitable character development.
Maybe the reason I stopped cheating at Sim City is because I lost the notebook that the cheat codes were written in - but that does not change the satisfaction that I gained from creating my first, cheat-free, successful city.
About MRPs - perhaps people would create an MRP just to get an award - but that does not take away the character and story development for the characters involved, or the Roleplaying opportunities that it creates."
Chyane said:
"Participating in an MRP is not "mundane." Only the people who really put effort into the RP would get the ribbon, not the people who just had a couple posts and then dropped out. And, like I said, it shows the kinds of things that person has participated in. These sort of awards would also be linked to that MRP archive, to give quick access to it."
"The way I see it, you can't get this award just because you were wounded, or even just because you had a really big wound. The writing quality has to hold up as well, and there has to be good reason for the wound, such that it's clear you weren't just trying to get a medal."
Miahala:
"As Mother pointed out, this idea came from her time writing in the Star Trek RPG that I run. I've been part of such an RPG for... six years now and they've always had the awards and what not. I've run a Sim since 2004 and the organization for nearly as long.
*Occasionally* people will write something just for the awards, *but* it's rare. When you have a good group of writers and Role-Players, the awards will not become their focus. Occasionally someone may want an award and will aim for it, but typically those people who do? Aren't really good enough writers to actually achieve it.
(This is where discretion at the level of those awarding it is a good thing - don't give awards like candy and it makes it even less likely that people will get 'award greed'.)
Unless you've got a big group of people who're... a little less mature, then the 'just role playing for awards' really never becomes a problem. In fact, most people forget about them and then it's just a pleasant surprise when you do get it.
In my experience, it's a nice way of saying that someone did a good job and it can encourage to keep reaching, because they're recognized. You know that people are actually paying attention and that's nice. It rarely becomes so big an issue as some of you may fear.
I've not noticed the Tower to be the sort of place where the 'award greed' would strike in any terrible way. I think it would just be a fun little addition and to have certain discretionary guidelines keeps things fair."
Durent said:
"Not to be too blunt, and don't take this the wrong way, but isn't that the point? Dictionary.com gives the definition of award as "To grant as merited or due." To ask whether or not people will roleplay toward specific awards, if created, would be similar to asking: "Are they taking that weapon class just to get a skill point?" "Are they roleplaying with their mentor just so they can get raised?" Of course they are! But that's why the raising requirements, the weapon skill system, the special abilities/talent system, Ajah benefits and so on were created.
Please don't misunderstand, I'm not proposing or endorsing meta-gaming, God-moding, or forced role-play. The awards, in my opinion, in the same way as our other systems, create worthy goals and objectives, that if taken the right way will open characters up to all sorts of character growth opportunity. I say if someone has it in their mind to get -every- award, let them go for it, they'll mature along the way.
I also agree with Mia that the giving of the awards needs to be sparingly. If there's no one that seems to fit the requirements for a specific award then it doesn't get awarded."
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